Surviving as a Writer in the British Empire - Chapter 74



＜ Gustave Eiffel ＞

Gustave Eiffel.

To be honest, I don’t know much about him.

Why not? In fact, few people know that the Eiffel of the Eiffel Tower is the name of a person.

Didn’t he say that in the future too? ‘I must be jealous of that tower. That tower is more famous than me.’

So I didn’t know. No, I didn’t even think of it.

“Guys who know nothing about architecture keep saying things like my tower is an abomination and will soon collapse. So I got so mad I just moved in.”

“ha ha ha. I see.”

I never thought that Gustav Eiffel would actually live on the top floor of the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel put a hand on my shoulder and pointed in one direction. Let’s follow the end, there is a palace.

“Hey, that direction is really true. can you see From here, you can see Mars Square and Palais de Chaillot in a straight line! Foolish bastards. Only pioneers like Edison and I know this scenery!!”

“Hey, over there. Say something.”

I looked at the kids and said.

But let alone Monty and Madge, who are now past puberty, there is also Mary, who is only five years old. Good words, good words!

No, I had heard rumors that Maupassant ate at a restaurant here, but I didn’t know that Eiffel would have such an absurd history.

furthermore.

“Edison? Are you talking about that American Thomas Edison?”

“yes. didn’t you know? The man designed the elevator that goes up here.”

It took me a while to go through the thousands of drawings.

Looking at Eiffel smiling after saying that, I thought this. How do I know that, man?

I couldn’t help but feel dazed for a moment. Even Edison, the inventor? Aren’t they the ones who crossed a bridge with this ＜Little Kevin＞ but made a connection?

Was it Kevin Bacon? They said that if you go through 6 steps in the world, you can get to know everyone in the world (Six Degrees of Separations), and now I was exactly that.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard your name. What is your name?”

“Ah, my name is Jin Han-sol, who works at the Miller Art Dealer. Please call me Hanslo, as appropriate.”

Saying that, I took out my business card and held it out.

Then Eiffel took it, examined it closely, and tilted his head.

“An art dealer? Aren’t you a babysitter?”

“Well, that’s humility. Because I am so competent.”

“Heh heh, I like that confidence. More than that… It’s an unusual name, but it’s strangely not familiar. Why, wasn’t there a novelist with that name in England, where you came from?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“huh?”

Gustav Eiffel looked at me for a moment. I told him calmly.

“I am that novelist. Hanslo Jin, my last name and given name are opposite in my home country, so Jin is my last name.”

“…Could it be ＜Pierre Perris＞?”

“Ah, yes. You mean ＜Peter Perry＞.”

No matter how many times I hear it, the French pronunciation is very strange. Come to think of it, Strauss also called Peter Perry Peter, right?

Is it something like that? Localization unreasonable?

“＜Vincent Villeze＞? ＜Brûleur de l’aube＞?”

“I know ＜Vincent Villiers＞, but…”

The more I hear, the more I don’t know. It’s like the shock of learning that Kang Baek-ho’s original name was Sakuragi.

Well, let’s see, was ‘Dreve’ morning?

“Are you referring to ＜Dawnbringer＞ by any chance?”

“Yes, that.”

“Then that’s right.”

“hahahaha.”

At this point, France’s most famous architect briefly exchanged business cards with me.

“…so you.”

Then Eiffel scratched his head. Then he looked at me and asked.

“To the staff at the art dealer who recognizes the artistry of my tower.”

“yes.”

“A nanny who takes such good care of three children.”

“yes.”

“By the way, an Asian who is now the most famous writer in England?”

“Are you lying?”

“Do you think anyone will listen?”

Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it.

I shrugged and said so. After thinking for a while, Eiffel shouted as he went to the kitchen.

“Look, housekeeper! Bring out the most expensive meat and cake today! And wine…!”

“Oh, I have kids, so I can’t drink.”

“Put the wine in! It’s a party!!”

I am also a French person. knows how to eat I smiled and thought so.

***

“So, the disease rumored to be a feigned illness?”

“Your expression is a bit impure. It is a recreation by ‘stress from the anguish of creation’.”

“St? I don’t know what it is, but after all, isn’t that the word? In the end, you said you quit because you didn’t want to work. ha ha ha!! A masterpiece, a masterpiece!! ”

Eiffel patted me on the shoulder and said that.

Kuhmm, really, according to the common sense of the 19th century, it must be so. Depression or PTSD are also weak ‘mental power’! It’s an era of neglect.

No, by the way, my voice is so loud that it really hurts my ears. I didn’t even drink, but why is my voice so loud? I’m glad I left the kids with the housekeeper.

Fortunately, since he was as rich as Gustav Eiffel, the housekeeper spoke English, and the children spoke a little bit of French, so the two of them stayed and talked.

“Tell me honestly. I enjoyed reading your post, but I have a lot of complaints!!”

“Is it?”

“That’s right!! Damn, what a fawning post to the public. What are you, don’t you have anything like that?! I am the best in the world! Shut up you pigs and look at my f*cking art! Say something like that.”

No, how do you see that you are an artist? Just a personality breaker.

I was dumbfounded by Eiffel’s claim and asked.

“Did Mr. Eiffel do such art?”

“Of course not!”

You’re so confident.

As I was at a loss for words, Gustave Eiffel jumped up and stomped his feet.

“No, think about it. This lump of steel! The world’s first 300m high tower! I know it’s aesthetically ugly. But what does that mean?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean big.”

Gustave Eiffel looked at me and his eyes twinkled.

It was like the ‘star’ of Oscar Wilde or Strauss, but it was more like a villain, and therefore more innocent.

Eiffel whispered with those eyes as if he was revealing something secret.

“It’s just, it’s good on its own!!”

“…”

No, was he just stupid?

I looked at Eiffel with cold eyes, as if I was dumbfounded. But he didn’t notice it and still waved his arm passionately and eloquently spoke.

“No, think about it! You too, a big battleship, a big cannon! And don’t you feel intimidated when you see a big dick!?”

“What are you talking about in front of a bachelor, right now?!”

“this! Are you still not married?”

Eiffel looked at me for a moment with the eyes of the poorest idiot in the world. No, what is it that I regret that I have to look like that?

As I thought so, I suddenly remembered that this nobleman was also a Frenchman after all.

“Anyway, think about it, do you know how much it cost me to build this tower? Everyone cursed at me for throwing money on the ground! But I’m not wrong! Do you know what happened when I started charging an entrance fee for this pagoda?”

“How have you been?”

“3 years! I got all the money back in just 3 years. Stupid government bastards gave away 20 years worth of tickets! Ha ha ha!”

It’s not an unknown story. Because it is famous even in modern times.

But hearing it in person definitely makes me envious. I don’t really do anything, but the money isn’t being copied.

“Okay, okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“This, the tower I named after my last name is itself a victory of human civilization and scientific intelligence!”

Only then did I understand why the light shining in Eiffel’s eyes was a little different from that of Strauss or Oscar Wilde.

This person’s eyes are not those of a genius.

Confidence characteristic of pioneers. With that, he foresaw the future, acted on his confidence, and finally won… so to speak.

“Science, industry, and aesthetics of mankind! Proof that it has finally reached the sky, which was considered the realm of God, beyond the old Tower of Babel! Ohhh… I am the first to set foot in that vast and unexplored land!!”

Conqueror’s Eye.

eyes like the sun

“…so on purpose?”

“okay! Why would it be made of such a lump of steel? It’s just a skeleton! The skeleton of the great skyscrapers that humans will continue to climb in the future! Did I only reach 300m in the 19th century? Then, in the next 20th and 21st centuries, my juniors, those juniors, and those juniors! Why not finally reach the 1km high Skyscraper!!”

It was a word imbued with the great ego of a Frenchman and conqueror.

However, I couldn’t say that was… madman’s bullsh*t.

63 Building is 250m.

Lotte World Tower is 550m.

And, Burj Khalifa is… a whopping 800m.

Because, as this person said, mankind was gradually moving toward a 1km skyscraper.

In fact, there were many stories that the Jeddah Tower, which was being built in Saudi Arabia, would exceed the 1km wall when completed. Is it the real Tower of Babel?

I don’t know if that’s actually possible or not. I’m a web novel writer, not an architecture or civil engineering major.

But at least.

“······yes. It will definitely happen.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha! Yes, you know too!”

“And, I know what you want to say.”

I bitterly looked at Eiffel, the sun-like heat in her eyes, and said.

“Anyway, you know everything about the road ahead. So, if you go there first without fawning, the public and money will naturally follow. Isn’t that what you want to say?”

“You know me! Does anyone know that?”

“No, it is.”

In the end, the Enlightenment (啓蒙主義) commonly referred to by people of this era.

A view that is convinced that as human civilization develops scientific knowledge, the whole of human history will make continuous progress.

If it wasn’t for that certainty, I wouldn’t think I was crazy and would suddenly build a 300-meter steel structure.

It’s just that… that’s not my way.

“I just wanted to comfort the people next to me.”

“Hmm, comfort…”

“I don’t have any idea of making grandiose art. Just having fun is my motto.”

Frankly, it was until the 20th century that art was the ‘means’ of the Enlightenment.

What is the Enlightenment in Art? Aren’t the savvy progressive elites trying to ‘enlighten’ the masses by leading them forward?

But what am I, I’m not such a lofty elite, what kind of great thoughts would I have? Pointing and leading? that’s so arrogant

So well, I just hope for the well-being of my body while selling what the public likes.

That habit only looks like a pioneer in the 19th century.

in other words.

“I’m just dancing, in my hometown, on the shoulders of giants. However, since they are giants you don’t know about here, it can’t be helped that they look new.”

“Heng. You’re talking nonsense.”

“How are you?”

I scratched my neck as if I was embarrassed about something.

“People cannot just look at the sky and ascend. Then one day you’ll get tired and collapse. Wouldn’t it be bad to have something like ‘comforting art’ to take a break so that the leash doesn’t break?”

Isn’t it said that God created heaven and earth in six days and then took a day off?

At those words, Eiffel put on a worried expression for a moment.

“Hmm, I’m taking a short break…”

Then Gustave Eiffel nodded his head and held out his rough hand to me.

“Yeah, maybe something like that. I thought you were my junior, but it was a ridiculous misunderstanding.”

“Well, you don’t have to be a junior in ideology, right?”

I joined hands with him.

“It’s like being a junior in life, what.”

“hahahahaha!! I really don’t want to say a word.”

Eiffel laughed loudly but waved my hand.

Hmmm, the more I look at it, the more attractive it is.

Truth be told, nobles with strong convictions are pretty tasty characters no matter where you put them.

Not even a mad scientist, but a mad artist, but a mad architect. definitely unique

“By the way, it’s called ‘comforting art’. It’s definitely because he’s a writer, so that’s pretty good.”

“Well, it’s just my personal opinion.”

“No, but it looks plausible to me. And, it seems that there are other people who need to hear that.”

wait a minute

After saying that, Gustav Eiffel took out a notebook from the corner, tore it up, and handed it to me.

“Take this and go to a workshop. Well, it doesn’t matter if you throw it away if you don’t like it.”

“What is this?”

“There is a workshop down there.”

Eiffel raised his finger and pointed to a street in Paris.

“I have a friend who is in a lot of trouble at that workshop, and hearing your story seems to solve it a little bit.”

“Hmm.”

I asked whose workshop it was. Then he answered lightly.

“Alfons Maria Mucha.”